Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Cordoba, a little taste of Germany in Argentina

Cordoba is the Argentinan city where my lovely Spanish teacher, Sofia was born and raised. There's been so many times when I have been thankful about those lessons as the pronunciation in Argentina was quite different from the Spanish I studied at school!

We had booked to stay at a hostel called Lacadona, which was pretty average and we decided to move hostels on the 4th night. The private room was incredibly cheap but very, very hot and noisy. There were lots of Argentinians living in the hostel while they worked in Cordoba and as they worked shifts hey would stay up until incredibly late. On the first night, the cupboard door in our room swung open, and hit the fan sounding like someone was shooting a gun! It was so scary that we made the decision to leave when we could.

Cordoba's center was really beautiful, with cobbled streets that were overshadowed with so many old churches and university buildings. Yet everyone told us that the best bit about the city was getting out of the city!

Our time there was filled with amazing gin and tonics at a bar called La Ley near the university. We went for a tour to the uni where we saw hundreds of ancient books and lots of grand rooms and chapels, we also met three really nice people, so hello to Kristin, Cynthia and Kevin!
With our new friends, we decided to take a day trip to a small town called Alta Gracia, the place where Che Guevara was raised. Alta Gracia was very quaint and peaceful. We walked around the church grounds then headed out of town to find the waterfall. There were lots of local kids diving into the pool, a wood fire burning where people were cooking steaks and a horse tied up, waiting to take its owner back home!
Feeling hungry after smelling the BBQ, we headed back to town where we got a Milanesa at a sandwich/inflatable shop, served to us by a gent called Julian Cordoba, who told us he was actually a famous performer in the US. His sandwiches were amazing, obviously a man of many talents!
Feeling stuffed we wandered to the Che Guevara museum, based in the house he grew up in. It was really interesting and the information depicted of his early years seemed far removed from the guerrilla leader he became. We saw the day out with some mate, the drink that all Argentineans love!
Continuing with our German vibe, Nick and I decided to visit Villa Belgrano the following day, a German village in the mountains. It was like a theme park, so after checking out the chocolate factory we hot footed it out to Le Cumbrecita, an Eco German village even higher in the mountains. This was much prettier, and we did the hike to a waterfall. Having earned it, we treated ourselves to some amazing cheesecake and beer before heading back into Cordoba. Back in town it was time to say goodbye to our friends as they were moving on the following day.
Our last day in Cordoba, we relaxed around the square with some drinks with another British couple, Gav and Gemma. Nick started a Bromance with Gavin so us girls tagged along and went for a lovely dinner at an Arabian restaurant. I'd forgotten how much I love hummus!